


The Birthday Gift

by nibbler747



Category: Naruto
Genre: Birthday, Childhood Games, F/M, Missing Loved Ones, Presents, Protective Siblings, Relating through Loss, Sunagakure | Hidden Sand Village, awkward boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 19:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20662709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nibbler747/pseuds/nibbler747
Summary: Temari hates her birthday and Shikamaru is determined to find out why.





	The Birthday Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [loknnica](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=loknnica).

The landscape was an endless sea of sand. All traces of foliage, trees and lush green forests were a thing of the past. Shikamaru shook his head to get the traces of sand out of his hair brought on by the last wind gust. Why would people settle in such a land? The sweltering heat, the violent sand storms, the lack of a fresh cool breeze. It was a troublesome place, therefore it had to be the perfect place for his troublesome girlfriend.

He had decided to surprise Temari for her birthday by coming to visit her in Suna. He was going to tell her of his plans, but Ino had insisted that she would find it _terribly romantic_ if he showed up without her knowledge. He was not one to question the inner workings of the female mind, so here he was, a mile out from the gates of Suna, sweating like a pig, with a small gift tucked away in his bag.

He had sent a note to Kankuro, letting him know that he would be visiting to give him a heads up. Of Temari’s two brothers, he seemed the less scary of the two scary options, although it was debatable. Kankuro could be intimidating when he wanted to, and Gaara came off as god damn psychotic with his dead eyed stares. Temari rounded out their terrifying trifecta. It was an awkward dynamic for him. Although they were Temari’s younger brothers, they were both older than him. The fact that they knew that he was dating their sister and all that it entailed, left him wanting to disappear into the background when he was in their presence.

He approached the gate, and provided the guards his identification. The guard consulted his clipboard, and gave Shikamaru a once over. 

“So you’re the one huh?” he started chuckling. “Lord Kankuro is expecting you. You can head down to the large green circular building at the centre of town. You can’t miss it. You’ll find him there.”

“Thank-you” he replied, tucking his I.D. back into his coat.

The one huh? The one that Temari is dating? The one that Kankuro and Gaara were going to kill? The one that was foolish enough to go meet his girlfriends brothers alone in a city he didn’t know with no reinforcements? He undid the top button of his shirt. Was Suna always this unbearably hot?

He walked down the main street of Suna towards the large green building. To his surprise, Kankuro was lounging on the steps with his long legs splayed in front of him smoking a cigarette. He was dressed casually, and had foregone his purple war paint. He almost looked approachable. Almost.

“Shikamaru” Kankuro greeted patting the step beside him. “Come sit. How was your trip in?”

“Hot. Long. Windy” he replied. He dropped his bag and wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief. He then joined the Sand Nin on the steps. 

Kankuro opened his package of cigarettes and tapped one out. “Want one?”

“Oh God yes.” Shikamaru accepted. He lit the dry tube of paper, took a big breath and inhaled the sweet nicotine he had been desiring.

“You know Temari hates smokers.”

“Yeah I know. I’m about to get an earful. What about you? I’m sure she doesn’t approve of her brother smoking either.”

“Natch. She doesn’t. But I think she’s given up lecturing me about it. You on the other hand-” Kankuro laughed and stubbed out the cigarette on the dusty step. He gave Shikamaru a long look. “So your letter didn’t say why you were coming to Suna. That reason better not be to something I don’t want to hear.” He raised his eyebrow accusingly.

Shikamaru flushed red and then took a long drag. “Well, you know it’s Temari’s birthday. I thought it would be nice to surprise her. “

Kankuro sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of. Man, I’m telling you this because I like you.” He paused. “Do not celebrate Temari’s birthday. She hates her birthday. She likes to be alone on that day. Gaara and I have learned over the years to just let her be.”

Shikamaru frowned. How could that be? She had made such a big deal of his birthday, and organizing a party with his friends. He didn’t want it, but it turned out to be fun, and they all had a great time. She had also been in Konoha for various friends birthdays, and had always participated happily – Ino’s, Tenten’s, Naruto’s.

“I don’t get it. She seems to love birthdays. I’ve seen her at so many of our friends parties, and she’s been really into it. She even helped plan a lot of them.”

“Well, other peoples birthdays she’s fine. Hers….not so much. Especially the last couple of years it seems.”

“The last couple of years? You have any idea why?”

Kankuro started tapping his cigarette package thoughtfully. “If I were to guess, I think she misses our mother a lot more around her birthday. Of the three of us, she’s the only one that really clearly remembers her. She doesn’t talk about her much though.”

Shikamaru looked at Kankuro thoughtfully. It was true, Temari never mentioned her mother very often. All he knew was that she had passed away when Gaara was born. Temari was so young, only three years old, it was amazing that she had any real memories of her at all. Special days were always hard though, his last birthday he felt the real missing presence of his own father. It was an emptiness that was hard to explain.

“Well, I’d still like to spend the day with her. If she’s sad, maybe I can help cheer her up.”

“I’m not going to stop you man. I’m just warning you.” Kankuro chuckled. “She might not be her usual evanescent self. Just don’t take it personal. I know you’ve come a long way.”

“Thanks for the heads up, I’ll definitely keep it in mind. Do you know where I could find her?”

“Well, I know that she had a few errands to run, but I think she’s should be back fairly soon. You can wait for her in her quarters. I’ve let the staff know. You know the way right?”

Shikamaru nodded. He stood up and shook the dust off his black pants. “Thanks Kankuro. I appreciate the talk.”

He nodded at the leaf shinobi. “Anytime.”

* * *

Shikamaru followed a member of the Kazekage’s staff down the winding hall towards Temari’s quarters. They finally arrived to a bright sunlight area that had a sitting room filled with bookshelves, a couch, chairs and a number of bedrooms that were down the hall. He noted that his bedroom was the farthest in distance from Temari’s. No doubt that was Kankuro and Gaara’s doing.

He settled into his room and freshened up. It felt so good to get out of his travel clothes and into something much lighter to deal with the heat. How Kankuro and some of the others wore such heavy clothes was a mystery to him.

Temari was still not back, so he decided to wander into the sitting room. His girlfriend’s influence was wildly apparent in this room as it was distinctly different from other rooms in the residence. The rest of the residence had a ornate old fashioned feeling to it. Here vases were filled with fresh cut flowers, local artists work adorned her walls, and her desk was busy with her never ending paperwork. He sat down on the couch as it looked like a good place to take a quick nap. He settled down and moved the pillow to reveal a large book that was resting on the side of the couch.

Curious, he opened the book to reveal that it was a photo album. There were pages upon pages of photos of Temari and her siblings. Shikamaru smiled as he looked at the photo’s of his girlfriend at a young age. There was a confident little girl with haphazard pigtails, a slightly younger Kankuro wearing a cape and in the background a very small Gaara watching his siblings almost hiding. The confident smirk that she wore was something that had apparently started at an early age.

Shikamaru kept flipping the pages to towards the front of the book, until he got to the photos of Temari as a baby. There was a picture of her father and mother holding her. Her mother had lighter hair, much like the colouring of Temari’s own. Her expression was warm and loving. It was obvious that she adored her little girl.

He kept flipping at the pictures, and saw the addition of baby Kankuro, Temari and her mother, and then the pictures stopped. There appeared to be a time gap, and then the pictures restarted when Temari must have been eight or so years old. He flipped back to the ones of Temari and her mother and examined them closely.

“Nara?”

Shikamaru shut the book quickly and looked up to see Temari’s shocked expression staring back at him.

“What are you doing here?”

He gave her a sly smile. “Happy Birthday?”

The look of shock on her face was quickly replaced with one of annoyance. “Please don’t tell me you’ve planned some sort of party. Because if that’s the case, you can stop right there because-“

“Stop woman. Geez. Aren’t you at least going to give your boyfriend who walked for three days to get here a kiss?”

She raised her eyebrow. “Well that depends on if there is a party or not.”

Shikamaru laughed. “I swear, you’re going to be the death of me. No party. I just wanted to spend time with you. Is that allowed?”

She crossed her arms. “I hate surprises….but I suppose I can make an exception for you.”

Shikamaru got up and strode over to her. “You better” he whispered as he brought her lips to hers. He brought her in close to him as they deepened their kiss. He missed this so much. Why did she have to live so damn far? Reluctantly he parted his lips from hers. She was staring at him with the most longing expression that he immediately regretted stopping. He wanted to make her birthday special for her, and he had an idea.

“I want to take you out” he whispered in her ear. 

“Nara, I don’t want to celebrate-“

“No nothing like that. Let’s go for a walk or a hike. I want to get away from it all. Do you have any place you’d recommend?”

Temari smiled. “I think I know the perfect place.”

* * *

“You couldn’t pick an easy hike could you?” Shikamaru puffed as he trailed behind Temari.

Temari looked back and grinned. “Well you probably wouldn’t have such a hard time of it if you stopped smoking.” She walked out to a clear landing at the peak of a local mountain. “Well Nara, you’re in luck. We’re here.”

The landing exposed a perfect lookout for Sunagakure. It gave a perfect visual for the beautifully designed city.

“I guess I was wrong” Shikamaru said softly gazing at Temari.

“What was that?”

“I thought the view would be terrible, but it’s beautiful.”

Temari dropped her bag. “You Konoha snobs. You always think The Land of Fire is the only place –“ She turned around to see that Shikamaru had his back to the view and was staring at her. A deep blush started to splay across her cheeks. She looked down at her feet. “Oh stop it you. You’re such a sap sometimes.”

“Am I not telling the truth?” he teased. He couldn’t help loving to get a rise out his girlfriend.

“Oh shut up.” She smiled at him. “Let’s set up here.”

They opened up her bag and took out a blanket on the flat ground. She took out two bottles of water and some snacks. They soon settled in, leaning against each other, watching the sun rapidly start to descend, turning the sky into a brilliant mélange of colours.

“Temari?”

“Yes?”

“I have a birthday present for you.”

Her whole body tensed up. “Nara, I told you, I don’t want to do anything for my birthday. So forget the present. I don’t want nor need one. Let’s just enjoy the view.”

Shikamaru sat up straight and took Temari’s hands in his. “I want to know why you hate your birthday so much.”

A wave of irritation flashed across her face. “There’s no reason. It’s just another day. I don’t like to be fussed over, I’m not that kind of girl.”

“Well, I think there’s more to it than that,” he persisted.

“Nara, just drop it ok?”

“Is it because you are missing your mother?”

Temari dropped his hand and looked over at him. “Where are you getting that from?” She shuffled over slightly and brought her knees up, cradling them in her arms.

“Well a few things. Kankuro suspects that is the reason, and then when I was in your quarters, I noticed you had your family photo album out. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”

She sighed and looked out towards the sunset. “Kankuro needs to learn to keep his big mouth shut.”

“Was he wrong?”

She kept staring out to the horizon. “He can be annoyingly perceptive.”

“You know Tem, you don’t need to hide missing your mother. It seems pretty normal to me. I miss my dad. Especially during special times.”

“You have years of memories with your father” she replied in a whisper.

“I know, but-“

Temari put her head between her knees. “I didn’t even know her. I only have fragments of memories with her. So it really shouldn’t bother me right? It’s stupid.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I mean, as much as I complain about my mother, I can’t really imagine having to grow up without one. That has to be hard.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m usually ok, but I don’t know. These last couple of years, I just really want to talk to her.” She looked straight at him. “Especially now.”

“Why is it harder now?”

The tears she was holding back began to lightly fall down her cheeks. “Because I don’t know what I’m doing. And I don’t want to screw it up. I don’t want to screw **us** up.”

“Us” he repeated as he gently wiped the tear running down her face. “You’re worrying about us?”

“I have a million questions I would ask my mother. About love and everything that goes with it. I feel like I’m just stumbling along, completely lost. I want to tell her about my feelings, I want to tell her about you. About falling in love. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I hate that feeling. I always know what I’m doing.”

Shikamaru’s heart ached as he heard his girlfriend confess her worries. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t know what I’m doing either.”

Temari sniffed. “Well we both knew that.”

Shikamaru took her hands back in his. “You know, after my dad died I couldn’t bring myself to play Shogi. It was just such a connection to him that I couldn’t bear facing. I thought I would never play again to be honest. But after some time, I realized that I don’t want to bury the memories I had with him. That by playing I’m honoring the times we spent together.”

Temari looked at Shikamaru sadly. “That’s sweet. But I don’t have anything like that with my mother.”

Shikamaru let go of her hand and reached into his pocket. “That brings me back to my birthday gift. I was going to give you a necklace, but I have something that I think might be better.” He took a small velvet bag out of his coat and placed it in Temari’s hands.

She shakily opened the bag and pulled out a shiny blue glass coin shaped object. She poured out the rest of the bag to reveal a pile of multi-coloured and clear glass stones. “Ohajiki?” she whispered.

“Yes. I saw in your album that there are pictures of you and your mother playing this.”

“I don’t remember playing though-“

“It’s ok if you don’t remember. The pictures tell the whole story. The smile on her face and yours reveals how much you both loved each other. Maybe you could play a game on your birthday in honour of her.”

She ran her fingers against the cool glass stones in consideration. “I think I would like that.”

Shikamaru divided the ohajiki into two sets of colours for each of them and then scattered them on the ground together. They played in silence, each taking turns trying to flick each others discs for possession. They finished playing in the moonlight.

Temari leaned over to Shikamaru and gently stroked his cheek. “Thank-you. For this. For being you.” She gently kissed him on the lips.

Shikamaru leaned back against the rock wall and put his arm around Temari, holding her close. “The two of us, we’ll figure this thing out together.” They sat holding each other the rest of the night, in the tranquil light of the moon.


End file.
